Bills second-year defensive tackle Marcell Dareus says he's excited about how much better he could get now that he has a season of pro ball to his name. Dareus was pretty outstanding last season, making the NFL's all-rookie team.

Dareus was listed at 340 pounds last season. He weighed in at 331 at the start of spring practices. He says he aims to be about 325 for the start of the season.

Said Dareus after Thursday's practice: "I want to bring to the table a more in shape Marcell. I want to be more in shape, flying to the ball more than I did last year, more than I did ever. So I really want to get off the ball, get to the ball, run to the ball, be non-stop, have a motor that’s non-stop going. I want to be in better shape physically and mentally ready to go."

Here are some quotes from Bills greats at the 26th annual Jim Kelly Celebrity Golf Classic, held today in Batavia:

Kelly on the absence of Kent Hull, who died at age 50 in October: “It’s good to see all these guys. This year it’s bittersweet. When you lose a guy like Kent Hull, the sweet part is the memories we’ve had. He was such a big part of this tournament. I think he might have missed one or two in the 26 years. He’s sorely going to be missed today and throughout the rest of my tournaments – to the 50th anniversary.”

Phil Hansen on his candidacy for a Minnesota state senate seat: “I kind of had a burning desire for a long time to do it but the timing has never been right. I had a young family. My kids are all in school now. There’s a retiring senator from the district which I plan to represent, and I want to make a difference. I want to do something more than just vote, and it’s manifested itself in running for office. Hansen said fiscal discipline is at the core of his political philosophy. “That should be a core of anyone’s philosophy,” he said. “You just don’t spend more than you have. And In every state, I think it’s about jobs, creating an environment for jobs, for business owners to succeed and hire employees.”

Fred Smerlas on the problem former players face in dealing with the concussions they suffered during their careers: "It’s a huge problem. I have a broken ankle (that has bothered him) since ’83. I’ve had 24 operations. I don’t sleep. Anger problems, headaches. They should have, when you had a concussion, not just given you smelling salts and icing the back. They should have sat and observed. They knew they should have done that. Another thing they should have done is when you get out of the league they have should done something (about treatment) after we got out. They needed to have a place for us to go (for specialized care). They never cared about the guys who got out. I played 14 years and had five Pro Bowls. They shut the door ... They shouldn’t have done that."

Bills defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt spoke with the media today following the team's first week of organized team activities.

Here's what he had to say when asked about his initial impressions of first-round pick Stephon Gilmore: "He doesn’t appear, and you watch him warm up in drills, to be as fast as he is but nobody runs by him. I think playing quarterback (in high school), he’s got a little bit more savvy than some corners might and obviously he’s a size guy. He’s got size and he can run and he’s got great feet. I used the word great, he’s got great hand-eye coordination. When the ball’s in the air, he’s going to go after it."

The Bills have been working with Gilmore on jamming receivers at the line of scrimmage, something he didn't do a lot of with South Carolina.

"That will all come in training camp when we really get the pads on. Right now we can't do one-on-one in press, you know all the one-on-one stuff we do you have to be off because of contact," Wannstedt said. "So we're kind of limited a little bit there. But he's getting enough of the work. ... He's learning the coverages, he's learning the techniques and he's learning the terminology. The physical part will come."

Irreverent NBA analyst Charles Barkley may want to steal a few ideas for his TNT broadcast from Bills linebacker Shawne Meriman on the breakdown of the Western Conference finals series between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. Merriman joked that he sees NFL-like schemes in the Spurs' dominant offense. San Antnoio is unbeaten in the postseason.

Does Merriman see the Spurs losing a game this postseason? "They’ll lose one. The Spurs will lose one, but I watched the game the other day and it’s like they’re running a clinic out there. There’s guys running all over the place. I think I saw some football patterns during the Spurs game. I saw one guy running the slant and one guy running a 5-yard out pattern on the other side of the basketball court. They’re shooting threes all over the place. It looks like some audibles."

Bills linebacker Shawne Merriman walked off the practice field in a full sweat and full of optimism. He said he participated fully in practice and has been cleared by doctors for full participation this spring.

"It felt great, just walking out there with the guys," Merriman said. "I’ve been here the whole entire offseason. Every day. Working with the guys full on. Just doing everything my teammates are doing. That just made me happy, because theyse guys never got a chance to see me go out and really work. I came in the middle of the year (in 2010), then we had the lockout (in 2011). This was the first offseason I got a a chance to actually have a full offseason in three years."

Merriman visited Dr. James Andrews on Tuesday to get his Achilles tendon checked out. Andrews is the renowned orthopedic surgeon based in Birmingham, Ala., who operated on Merriman's problem Achilles in early November. It has been seven months since the surgery. Merriman did not rupture the Achilles. He said Andrews went in to repair tears and "clean up" the tendon area. He called it a six-month injury.

"I'm glad they went in and did it when they did," Merriman said. "If they didn’t who knows? It could have been one of those things that would be much tougher to come back from."

Merriman had 39.5 sacks in his first three seasons in the league. He has just six over the past four seasons. He has missed most of three of those campaigns. He played the first five games of last season for the Bills before going on the injured-reserve list.

Said Merriman: "It was a hard three years when you’re dealing with something like the Achilles and you don’t know whether to go get something done. You’re a game-time decision. You don’t know if you can practice. You’re in pain. You can’t go out there and play the way you can play. I just felt that I was in a position that I couldn’t go out and perform. I couldn’t go out and do the things I do best. I couldn’t explode. So what people have seen from the last three years wasn’t Shawne Merriman. It was a guy going out and trying his best for what I had at the time."

The Bills added cornerback Isaiah Green to the 90-man roster today and released linebacker Garrick Williams. Green, 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds, is an undrafted rookie from Fresno State. He played 46 games for the Bulldogs.

Here's another reason for Buffalo Bills' fans to either dislike Jets coach Rex Ryan -- or perhaps like him a bit more. He's a hockey fan and a big booster of a Sabres enemy, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Ryan spent much of his young childhood living in Toronto with his mother, who worked for the University of Toronto. When he got into high school, he moved back down to the United States to live with his father, who was coaching the Minnesota Vikings at the time.

Ryan was at Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals last night and sporting a New Jersey Devils jersey. (Fans who watched the CBC broadcast got to see a interview in the stands with the coach.)

Ryan on his hockey loyalties during the Hockey Night in Canada telecast: “The Leafs are my team, but living here in Jersey I support the Devils,” Ryan said. “They’re right down the road. They’re a good team. But I am waiting on Toronto. It’s been what, eight years since we’ve made the playoffs? We’re upset that we never made the playoffs this year. Eight-year drought, c’mon Leafs. I mean, they started the season great, and I’m, like, this could be our year. But we’ll see. Hopefully they get it together.”

The Leafs have one thing in common with the Bills. Toronto's eight-year playoff drought is the longest in the NHL (and considering 16 teams make the playoffs, that's long). The Bills' 12-year drought is longest in the NFL. The longest in the NBA is eight years, for Minnesota. The longest in major league baseball is 30 years, for the Washington Nationals (and Montreal Expos).